An Overview of Overlapping Interests in East Asian and Western Conservation

Adapt & Evolve 2015: East Asian Materials and Techniques in Western Conservation. Proceedings from the International Conference of the Icon Book & Paper Group, London 8–10 April 2015 https://icon.org.uk/node/4998 An overview of overlapping interests in East Asian and Western conservation T.K. McClintock, Lorraine Bigrigg and Deborah LaCamera Copyright information: This article is published by Icon on an Open Access basis under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (CC BY-NC-ND) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/. You are free to copy and redistribute this material in any medium or format under the following terms: You must give appropriate credit and provide a link to the license (you may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way which suggests that Icon endorses you or your use); you may not use the material for commercial purposes; and if you remix, transform, or build upon the material you may not distribute the modified material without prior consent of the copyright holder. You must not detach this page. To cite this article: T.K. McClintock, Lorraine Bigrigg and Deborah LaCamera, ‘An overview of overlapping interests in East Asian and Western conservation’ in Adapt & Evolve 2015: East Asian Materials and Techniques in Western Conservation. Proceedings from the International Conference of the Icon Book & Paper Group, London 8–10 April 2015 (London, The Institute of Conservation: 2017), 168–81. Adapt & Evolve 2015: East Asian Materials and Techniques in Western Conservation. Proceedings from the International Conference of the Icon Book & Paper Group, London 8-10 April 2015 168 T.K. McClintock, Lorraine Bigrigg and Deborah LaCamera An overview of overlapping interests in East Asian and Western conservation Introduction Many Western paper conservators were introduced to the conservation of East Asian works on paper and silk through the film made in 1971, The Art of the Hyōgushi, in which Takashi Sugiura of the Freer Gallery treats several scrolls and folding screens in the course of an hour.1 At the time 1 W.T. Chase, dir., Art of the Hyōgushi of its making there were fewer resources focusing on the subject, but there (Washington, DC: Freer Gallery of Art/ were Japanese and Chinese conservators working in the West, as well as Smithsonian Institution, 1971). a small group of Western conservators who had trained in Chinese and Japanese studios. They served as guides to the subject and intermediaries 2 R.H. van Gulik, Chinese Pictorial Art between colleagues in those countries.2 Information began to be circulated as Viewed by the Connoisseur (Roma: about the materials, tools, procedures and sensibilities, and how they Istituto Italiano per il Medio ed Extremo could be relevant to the conservation of Western works. The maturity of Oriente, 1959); Masako Koyano, Japanese Scroll Painting: A Handbook of Mounting the profession is now reflected in the numerous publications, presentations Techniques (Washington: Foundation of and opportunities for training and professional exchanges. These reflect an the American Institute for Conservation, improved understanding of East Asian conservation and demonstrate the 1979). overlapping interests of East Asian and Western conservation. (Elements of the treatments documented in the film are now regarded as out of date, but the actual methods of execution remain superb.) In conservation studios that care for both East Asian and Western fine art and historic works, the overlap of specialized practices is viewed as an invaluable source of cross-pollination. While the subjects of treating East Asian works in Western studios, or what Western procedures have found favour in East Asian studios, or, indeed, what developments have occurred in the conservation of East Asian works in East Asian studios, are not the focus here, some commentary is relevant. In the macro sense, it can be ventured that the field of Western paper conservation has probably benefited more than the East from the direction of these exchanges since they began two generations ago. Shared foundations of practice Before considering the particulars of treatment, it is worth highlighting that the key principles which are the foundation of good conservation are shared by both traditions of practice. They include intellectual control of a collection, well-formulated policies about access and use, a secure building envelope, stable environment and good housing, and the integration of curatorial and condition assessments to develop priorities for treatment. The very formats of East Asian art contribute to this very discernibly: the scroll with its protective margins and its painting buried deep within surrounding layers, albums providing similar protection to paintings and prints, and the screen painting with its reinforcing mount and its dimensions and exposure reduced in the folded state. There are also shared sensibilities about the aesthetics of a work on paper. Imperfections that reflect the passage of time and exposure, inherent to the concept of wabi-sabi, are not entirely undesirable. The enhanced integrity of a work is based on an improved condition, which is the foundation of © 2017 T.K. McClintock, Lorraine Bigrigg and Deborah LaCamera 169 McClintock, Bigrigg and LaCamera an improved appearance. This improvement should aim to mirror a well- cared-for rather than pristine work (except when pristine is the very point, as for modern and contemporary multiples). This is certainly reflected in the restrained approach to cleaning and inpainting that can be found in the working practices from both hemispheres. Paper conservators live with the risks that are inherent to complex treatment. These include not just the major risk that a treatment objective will be misguided or that a procedure will get out of control, but also the ever- present trepidation that a treatment will not unfold to reflect a conservator’s best intentions and experience. The focus of this essay is how an improved understanding of the particulars of East Asian conservation can help to minimize those risks and produce more refined treatment scenarios. East Asian connoisseurship The term ‘East Asian’ is a generic reference, of course. It is critical to distinguish between the arts of China and those of Korea and Japan where the materials, format and subject matter were reconfigured to reflect different artistic interests and manner of use. Critical distinctions developed in their visual complexity, as well as in the tools, materials and procedures for their conservation. Fostering the connoisseurship of Chinese and Japanese art is essential to recognize the rationales behind these different traditions of practice and, therefore, their potential suitability for modification for use on Western works. However different they are in this regard, what is most easily admired is how the tools, materials and procedures of these two great traditions of practice have been so purposefully integrated to address the compromises in condition and appearance of the works in their purview. It is recognized that Japanese conservation processes were derived from 3 Xiangmei Gu, Yuan-li Hou and Valerie Chinese precedents. However, when the influence of East Asian strategies Gouet, ‘The Treatment of Chinese on Western conservation was first discussed, it was probably more about Portraits: An Introduction to Chinese Painting Conservation Technique’, Book what occurred in Japanese studios, at least until fairly recently. The picture and Paper Group Annual 18 (1999): 17–24; is now appreciably more well rounded due to exposure to the Chinese Jing Gao and Yishsia Hsiao, ‘Mounting methodologies carried out in the studios of the Freer Gallery, the Boston Techniques for Asian Silk Paintings Museum of Fine Arts, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the British and Calligraphy Using Two Colours of Museum, as well as the Shanghai Museum, the Palace Museum in Beijing Lining Paper’, Studies in Conservation 3 59, Supplement 1 (2014): 217; Keisuke and Taiwan National University. Sugiyama, Jinxian Qiu and Hisashi While the traditions of East Asian conservation are a comparatively recent Hakamata, ‘Paper Lining: Techniques subject of study in the West, an appreciation of the distinctive qualities Based on Knowledge and Experience’, of East Asian art is not. The paintings and prints that found their way to Studies in Conservation 59, Supplement the West held appeal for reasons that are familiar and still influential: the 1 (2014): 145–48; Yang Zehua, ‘The Use of Seaweed Adhesive and Non-woven quality of draughtsmanship, the innovative compositions and the unusual Paper in Chinese Painting Conservation: three-dimensional formats, the seeming modesty of the materials on the one About the Conservation of a Set of hand and their obvious splendour on the other, the craftsmanship of their Paintings Realized Under the Direction execution and the very images of different civilizations that are captured. of G. Castigione in the Forbidden City’ However genuine the admiration is in the West for the conservation (paper presented at Peinture Chinoise: la Restauration et la recherché en procedures of China and Japan, it is not unwarranted to suspect that some of Europe et en Chine, Musée Cernuschi, their appeal is also flavoured by a sense of romanticism that is not dissimilar Paris, 19 March 2008); Xing Kung Liao to the earlier currents that led to Chinoiserie or Japonisme. and Fei Wen Tsai, ‘Simple Losses Yet There are elements of East Asian practice that can seem unfathomable Complicated Fills — The Evaluation of to Western sensibilities or exercised almost for their own sake. An Airbrush Technique Applied to Filling Losses Using Cellulose Powders’ (paper unwillingness to see the dilution of such hard won, if ineffable, living presented at the ICOM-CC Interim traditions is understandable. The value of each oeuvre in its entirety merits Meeting, Institute for Conservation, conservation. In the words of Joseph Meder in Die Handzeichnung, ‘Art is so Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, easily lost, but re-invented with difficulty’.4 If the East Asian conservation Vienna, 19 April 2013).

Load more